Kerala IT News

Tvm: In what is being seen by many as a move by the Government to politicise the working of Technopark, Trivandrum; a political nominee has been appointed to the Project Implementation Board of Technopark. The Technopark Governing Council and the Project Implementation Board is usually made up of senior bureaucrats, academicians and retired officials.

Renjith Balan, who is said to be close to the KPCC leadership, was inducted to the Project Implementation Board of Technopark earlier this week. He is the MD of Cell Technologies and the Director of Bangalore based Renova Home Value Appliances. A 2001 pass out from GEC, Thrissur, Ranjith started Cell Technologies in 2004 at Technopark.

It was a long standing demand that the IT industry should be represented in the Project Implementation Board of IT Parks in Kerala like Technopark, Trivandrum; Infopark, Kochi and Cyberpark, Kozhikode. In fact, the industry had made several representations to the Government in this regard. But Ranjith’s nomination has come as a surprise for many.

What has miffed the CEOs of several IT Companies in Technopark is the fact that senior head honchos and veterans of home grown IT companies like V K Mathews of IBS and K Nandakumar of SunTec have been ignored and Ranjith, who is one among the hundreds of entrepreneurs with less industry experience, has been nominated because of his political connections. Many of them feel that this might be the beginning of a new trend where political nominees get into the Boards of the knowledge based industry just like the old economy Boards.

Meanwhile, T Balakrishnan IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Industries & Commerce who also holds the additional charge of the IT Department, today sought to put to rest the controversy surrounding the induction of Ranjith by saying that he was a nominee of industry. A claim which won’t find many takers within the industry.

Anil Philip
Kerala IT News